Ron's rages are sincere and — according to his wife — healthily cathartic. But can these splenetic outbursts loosen the grip of capitalism at its most monstrous?
Midsummer Nights Dream
The Globe, London
★★★★
IF there is any doubt that A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be played as a lark from start to finish, then this hyperactive Sean Holmes production will put such thoughts to bed.
Delivered with music hall panache throughout, every moment is milked for maximum silliness, while up in the gallery an off-the-wall, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah style band accentuates the absurdities with rude blasts of the tuba, trombone and trumpet.
Jocelyn Jee Esien as Bottom is a Max Milleresque bundle of double (and single) entendre, making an agreeable ass of herself in more ways than one, while Faith Omole as a fiery, sexually charged Hermia provides some of the best moments of outraged, boisterous confusion.
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
JAN WOOLF is beguiled by the tempting notion that Freud psychoanalysed Hitler in a comedy that explores the vulnerability of a damaged individual
SIMON PARSONS is beguiled by a dream-like exploration of the memories of a childhood in Hong Kong


